The Core Line Cook Skills to Land a Job [Beginner, Medium, Senior]

If you love cooking and know everything about making people happy with the food, a career as a line cook might be a good fit for you. To get into the industry, you must craft a winning resume and emphasize your professional accomplishments. 

Check the article to:

• Learn the basic line cook skills;
• Check the list of responsibilities;
• Find how to improve your skills

What Do Line Cooks Do?

The standard line cook duties go far beyond chopping and cleaning the dishes. Called also a line chef or a station chef, a line cook is a person who prepares meals according to the customer’s order. Line cooks commonly work in restaurant kitchens and cafeterias. 

The demands of the job are tough. You should be physically fit since most of the time you’ll be standing behind the stove or a fryer for 12 hours. Why so many hours? Because a 12-hour shift is a standard in the industry.

Line Cook Technical Skills

Superb knowledge of steaming and mixing is not enough if you plan on becoming a top professional in the industry. So, which are other core skills for a line cook job?

• Kitchen skills. Yeap, you should know everything about preparing food and making customers happy; 
• Multitasking. One of the main line cook requirements. You’ll work on a few orders simultaneously;
• Strong knowledge of food safety regulations. Food poisoning is a big issue for the restaurant’s reputation;
• Time management. Typical customers expect their food to be served in 20 minutes or less.

Line Cook Non-Technical Skills

Typical line cook duties and responsibilities entail your ability to reflect on the order instructions and follow the industry requirements like food quality regulations. 

• Communication skills. Your non-technical skills include your ability to follow the orders of the main kitchen chef;
• Organizational skills. You should know which orders require quick processing;
• Attention to detail. Adding allergic products to the meal might be lethal. Hence, pay special attention to the customer’s special requests!
• Stress resistance. You should be able to deal with problematic customers and tons of orders.

The Most Important Skills to Be Fit for the Job

One of the top skills required for successful performance of line cook job duties is the knowledge of cooking and strong time management. Why so? Because the essence of your job is preparing meals on time. The recruiters will pay special attention to your ability to multitask. Other things to consider are getting proper training in both cooking and kitchen tech knowledge. You can get a certification at culinary schools for that.

The main skills to focus on are

• Kitchen and cooking knowledge;
• Multitasking;
• Organization;
• Time management.

Multitasking

A modern customer values their time. Hence, being a line cook means attending to the customer’s needs fast and accurately. Working in a kitchen is a deadline-driven process, and the more customers a restaurant has, the more stressful your work as a line cook will be. Apart from cooking, you’ll have to make sure the dish corresponds to the customer’s demands. 

If you fail with multitasking, the restaurant will lose its clients. Yet being a multitasker is a skill to prioritize when learning the profession. 

Attention to Details

So, how to be a better line cook without failing the kitchen restaurant team? Be attentive to details! The menu creation implies items with specific characteristics. Some customers will choose a pepper on their plate, while others will choose less spicy foods from the menu. The key is to remember which customers chose spicy items and which didn’t. 

Again, if you fail to follow instructions, the outcome might be a conflict between the customer and you. Hence, stay attentive!

Knowledge of Food Safety

One of the vital line cook qualifications is the knowledge of food safety. All because knowing everything about temperatures is a matter of life and death in some cases. Just imagine what would happen to the restaurant guests if the meat you cooked contained bacteria because you used a lower temperature regime than the one required.

The knowledge of food safety also implies storing food properly. Sometimes the kitchen team might fail to check the freshness of the ingredients stored in the fridge. 

Time Management

Again, it’s all about multitasking and prioritizing orders that need quicker processing. 

Yeap, time management is one of the answers to the ‘what is a line cook duties’ question. First, you have to deliver food of the highest quality on time. Second, you should keep your schedule organized according to the deadlines and complexity of the order.

If a line cook works at high-end restaurants, their time management skills are especially important since they impact the restaurant’s reputation.

Interpersonal Skills

Why are interpersonal skills so important to mention in a line cook duties resume? Isn’t mentioning the knowledge of cooking standards enough? No, it’s not. Working in a kitchen is teamwork, yet all members are dependable on each other. When the deadline is near, some of your colleagues might get nervous. This is when you’ll have to show patience and empathy for others. 

Interpersonal skills are also required when you have to deal with a problematic customer who is unhappy with your work. 

How to Improve Line Cook Skills

Everyone needs a workplace to springboard their career. But do you need experience to be a line cook? What if it’s your first job? In this case, writing a bot-beating resume might be an answer to your questions. If there are problems, there are always solutions, right? To get an ATS-friendly resume, contact our Skillhub professional resume writers and win your dream job! Our professionals will gladly help you to land a job interview fast.

Follow the Professionals in the Industry

Blogs

• ChefTalk. A community of professionals with outstanding credentials who are ready to share their experience for free;
• The Butcher’s Info Blog. Want to upgrade your ability to work with meat dishes? Check this blog!
• SmittenKitten. A great line cook blog for culinary students with tons of recipes from world cuisine. 

Twitter Experts

• Ken Burgin. This guy will tell you everything about hospitality management and teach you how to be a line cook;
• Barbara Castiglia. This woman will teach you everything about all restaurant operations; 
• David Lebovitz. A good opportunity to learn more tips on pastry cooking and become a better specialist. 

How to Showcase Your Skills

Your Skills section is a part of your resume that is thoroughly checked by the applicant tracking system. All because Skills contain the highest number of professional keywords that must be checked by the ATS bots.

• Use professional keywords like the name of the kitchen appliances; 
• List the core skills like ‘multitasking’; 
• Divide your Skills into Hard Skills and Soft Skills sections. Most line cook skills resume examples use this division to emphasize the candidate’s fitness for the job.

Line Cook Skills in a Resume Skills Section

Check an example of putting the skills needed to be a line cook in a standard resume for a line cook. The Skills section below is suitable both for entry-level specialists and professionals that have been in the industry for decades. The section is also suitable for a chain restaurant or a high-end employer. 

Skills

Hard Skills

• Strong knowledge of work protocols, food safety regulations, and kitchen safety requirements;
• Superb knowledge of food preparation techniques; 
• Multitasking and strong organizational skills.

Soft Skills

• Time management;
• Communication skills;
• Interpersonal skills;
• Stress resistance.

Work Experience Section: How to Put Your Line Cook Skills

Check an example below on how to put your skills for line cook in a resume section. 

Vino Tinto 

Pastry Line Cook 

2016-2021

• Participated in the menu development and the vine card establishment; 
• Had responsibility for preparing pastry dishes;
• Followed the order requirements and ensured top-quality customer experience while paying attention to special demands and food regulations.

Need help with a resume for a line cook? Let our Skillhub writers help build a resume and win you a dream job!

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Final Thoughts

Congrats! Now you know how to put the skills of a line cook into your resume. Make sure to follow the tips below to upgrade your job search and get more interviews:

• Think of your skills as professional keywords use and beat the ATS system;
• Engage with reading more resume examples online to learn the structure of the Skills section;
• Use your line cook skills to highlight your work experiences and emphasize your professionalism. 

Still confused with composing your Skills Section? Reach out to the top resume writing service and get an ATS-beating resume with us! Let’s start your career together!